Went down to the old San Francisco Mint for an open house organized by her caretakers the SF Museum and Historical Society. A handful of historical organizations set up tables with info and the entire building was open to the public, an incredible treat for anyone who's walked past the "Granite Lady" on Mission and 5th and wondered at how amazing it must be inside.
The answer is of course, absolutely amazing. Got to enter the vaults where, by the 1930s one-third of the nations gold reserves were stored. In 1877 alone, over fifty-million dollars in coins were produced there and from from 1874 to 1937 the Old Mint was the most active mint in the United States.
Not to mention it withstood the 1906 earthquake because its architect Alfred B. Mullett knew the west coast was subject to earthquakes and designed the Old Mint to "float" on its foundations. Thus, the Mint rode out the catastrophe practically undamaged while buildings all around fell into rubble.
Inside the actual vaults you can see where thousands of tons of coins have left their indentations on the walls. One of which may have been the silver dollar later used by Mayor Willie Brown to purchase the Old Mint from the federal government in 2003. That's right, we bought this lady for one whole dollar.
What a steal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Been a miner for a heart of gold? Check out the SFMHS for events at the Old Mint and have yourself a look, as they say, this lady's a stone cold fox.